Settlement houses aimed to improve the lives of community members by addressing social challenges and promoting social welfare. In this lesson, we explore how they addressed the needs of the community where government efforts fell short. Many communities still have similar programs....
Discussion of the book The Three Questions guides youth to be aware of people and needs around them and the importance of service as a response to the needs of others.
Author: Urban EdVenture Faculty at Westminster
Youth research and report back to the group about the nonprofit organizations that are serving their community and the many facets of community life that nonprofits are involved in.
Author: Urban EdVenture Faculty
To identify the qualities students see in effective leaders and create a life-size picture of a good leader emphasizing the body parts that represent those qualities.
To show students that everyone is part of the big picture and that the skills needed to take care of a small community of individuals are similar to those needed to care for a larger community.
This activity can be done at different times...
To have students identify the things that are important in their lives as a means of finding a “passion” or “passions” the class holds in common. Students will then identify causes that deal with an issue related to their shared passion. This will guide the teacher in selecting and promoting...
We work on communication and listening skills while designing and building simple objects. This helps us think about the power of words and how difficult it can be to get a message across to another person without it being lost in translation.
Author: Urban EdVenture Faculty
Many people have a difficult time distinguishing between acts of kindness and acts of philanthropy. Using the definition of philanthropy from the “Defining Philanthropy” lesson, youth will examine various situations and decide which ones are acts of philanthropy. They may discover...
The youth reflect on basic needs that may be difficult to meet when one doesn’t have a home. They take action by creating personal hygiene kits or asking a local nonprofit how they can help support their efforts to assist people who are homeless.
What are the forces in our lives that separate us from the outdoors today, and what can we do to fuel up on the power of nature? In this lesson, young people research the benefits of being outside and the human impact on the environment or about environmental justice issues with a...